‘Need for Speed’ Comes in Third at the Box Office

In a rare outcome, “Need for Speed” revved up faster at the box office in China than the U.S., DreamWorks SKG’s adaptation of the Electronic Arts Inc. video game, distributed by Walt Disney Co., opened to a weak $17.8 million domestically, according to studio estimates.

That’s lower than DreamWorks, the independent studio headed by Steven Spielbergthat has struggled in the past few years, had hoped. In particular, exit polling indicated that “Need for Speed,” which cost $66 million to produce, did not draw as big of a young male audience as most in Hollywood had predicted it would based on pre-release surveys.

The film was No. 3 at the domestic box office, behind DreamWorks Animation SKG Inc’s “Mr. Peabody and Sherman,” which took in $21.2 million on its second weekend (DreamWorks Animation has no connection to the live action studio that made “Need for Speed”) and “300: Rise of an Empire,” from Time Warner Inc.’s Warner Bros. and Legendary Pictures LLC, which grossed $19.1 million on its second weekend.